Who exactly is being served by the news that a University Lecturer has been reported for sexual harassment? What use is there for the publicity of this news other than the fomenting of speculation and haphazard finger-pointing?
Without in any way defending any form of sexual harassment – wherever it takes place, surely it is time to ask questions about the role of the media in such issues. Now the University has confirmed that it has received a complaint and that appropriate action is being taken. I do hope of course that should such sexual harassment have taken place then that real justice is done.
What I cannot ignore though is the manner in which this news has come out and its consequences on the whole lecturing profession. Until the controversy curious public are fed a name, all persons working at the University are suddenly subject to useless speculation. This can have an effect of watering down the very instrument intended to protect students (and lecturers incidentally) by exposing it to possible future abuse. At one stage we heard how the student preferred to register the complaint early “in order that it does not effect her marks”.
I have absolutely no reason to doubt the genuineness of this particular complaint. The way it is being handled though might just about switching on genius light bulbs in the minds of many a slacker student who suddenly sees a possible way out of the “suffering” in University life by concocting a harassment complaint or two. In the least you could get the attention of the media, at most you could blackmail a lecturer just until you get the necessary marks.
Sexual harassment is a serious issue and should not be taken lightly. Had the case been allowed to run its full course then the media would have been within their rights reporting the result – including the name of the person found guilty. As things stand we risk corrupting an important process that is still very slow to seep in to our social way of thinking.
